Self-erecting sprinkler head for irrigation pipelines



July 24, 1962 A. E. JENSEN 3,045,922

SELF-ERECTING SPRINKLER HEAD FOR IRRIGATION PIPELINES Filed Oct. 17, 1960 cm I m E l INVENTOR. 20 fi\ flew/ et? dswsa/ I I BY M United States Patent 3,045,922 SELF ERECTDJG SPRINKLER HEAD FOR RRIGATIUN PIPELINES Arthur E. Jensen, 11372 SW. Skyline Drive, Santa Ana, Calif.

Filed Oct. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 62,940 7 Claims. (Cl. 239--225) The present invention relates generally to irrigation pipelines and more particularly to an improved sprinkler head mounting for such pipelines.

In the so-called wheel-move class of irrigation apparatus, the irrigation line comprises a long string of interconnected pipes, the string being perhaps one quarter of a mile long. The string is coaxially supported by a plurality of spaced-apart wheels and a power means is provided to roll the wheels and string as a unit from one area to another in the field under irrigation. At spaced intervals along the string of pipe, rotary sprinkler heads are mounted for distributing the water. One example of irrigation apparatus of this class is disclosed in my United States Patent No. 2,946,515 on a Power Unit for Moving Pipelines, issued on July 26, 1960.

A common difficulty with pipelines of this class, excluding those embodying the invention of my aforementioned patent, is the maintenance of all of the sprinkler heads of a pipeline in the desired erect position. However, the present invention may also be used to advantage with wheel-move pipelines embodying my previously mentioned power unit apparatus when set up on comparatively rough or hilly terrain.

In wheel-move pipelines, the supporting wheels are typically rigidly coaxially secured to the string of pipe, in order to rotate the string and wheels concurrently. Usually a single prime mover mounted on a cart or other Wheeled conveyance is placed at the center of the long string and its torque transmitted to the string at this midpoint. With conventional apparatus of this class, no provision is made for preventing wrapping of the string of pipe. Even though heavy gauge pipe material is used, the sections of pipe are differently torsionally strained in proportion to their spacing from the point of application of torque. Thus, the opposite ends of the pipeline will be found to turn at a slower rate than the midportion. When such a pipeline is initially set up all of the sprinkler heads are fixedly secured to the pipe within a substantially common vertical plane. However, after even the first use, it will be found that because of the wrapping effect the several sprinkler heads of the string will be disposed at a wide variety of angles to the vertical when the string of pipe is brought to rest at a new position within a field. As is apparent, unless this condition is corrected by making manual angular adjustments on the pipeline at various points along its length, uneven sprinkling willoccur because the several sprinkler heads do not rotate on a substantially vertical axis.

An important object of my invention is to provide a self erecting sprinkler head for wheel-move and other classes of irrigation pipelines which automatically supports the sprinkler for rotation on a vertical axis.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sprinkler head of this type that steadily maintains a vertical axis 'of rotation at all times while water is being delivered therethrough without permitting any oscillation of the sprinkler in reaction to pulses of water jets delivered by the sprinkler nozzle.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a self erecting sprinkler head for wheel-move pipelines with a novel counterbalancing arrangement to avoid uneven wearing on the sprinkler hearing, this means also aiding in automatically plumbing the sprinkler head.

A further object of the invention is to provide a self 3,045,922 Patented July 24, 1962 erecting sprinkler head of simplified construction having an extremely long service life and requiring almost no field maintenance.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial perspective view of a string of wheel-move irrigation pipe incorporating the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken transversely of the string of pipe shown in FIGURE 1 immediately adjacent one of the sprinkler heads of my invention;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of a self erecting sprinkler head embodying the invention, portions thereof being cut away to show interior details of construction; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial elevational view of the horizontal bearing shown in FIGURE 3, portions being cut away to show the positions assumed by the several parts when Water under pressure is present within the sprinkler head mounting.

FIGURE 1 shows a portion of a long string of wheelmove pipeline comprising sections of pipe 10 rigidly coaxially mounted on a plurality of supporting Wheels 12. The sections of pipe 10 may be 40 feet in length and a plurality of my self erecting sprinkler heads, each designated generally by the numeral 14, are secured to the string of pipe, there being at least one sprinkler head between each pair of wheels 12.

The sprinkler head 14 can be secured to the pipe 10 in a variety of ways. FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrate the sprinkler head mounted on the pipe 10 in combination with a quick drain valve such as is disclosed in my copending patent application Serial No. 26,259. However, this mounting is entirely by way of example and does not, per se, form a part of the present invention.

This valve has a generally semi-cylindrical body 16 that is integrally formed with a well 18 in the midportion of the body, projecting radially outwardly from the body. Another integral portion 20 of the body 16 is formed with an outlet passage 22 for conducting water from the well 18 to the sprinkler head 14. The valve body is held in place by a pair of clamping straps 24 or the like, the body being positioned so that the well 18 is disposed over an opening 26 formed in the wall of the pipe 10. The floor of the well 18 is formed with. a plurality of drain holes 28 circularly grouped around a central stud 36 that supports a resilient disc valve 32 coaxially with the pipe opening 26.

It will be understood that when the wheel-move pipeline is originally set up, all of the sprinkler heads 14 are secured to the sections of pipe 10 with their axis of rotation all vertically disposed. This condition is shown in FIGURE 3 wherein it will be noted that the valve body 16 has its upper face disposed in a horizontal plane, the Well 18 pointing vertically downward, immediately beneath the vertically downwardly opening associated pipe opening 26. However, after the pipeline has been moved from one area to another in the field under irrigation it will be found that although some of the sprinkler head supports may still be arranged in the attitude of FIGURE 3, others will tend to support the sprinkler heads at an angle to the vertical, as indicated by the angularity of the valve body 16 in FIGURE 2.

The sprinkler head mounting includes a stub pipe 36 that is threadedly engaged at one end with the outlet end of the passage 22 in the valve body 16. At its other end the pipe 36 threadedly engages one end of an elbow 38 whose other end is arranged with the axis of its outlet substantially parallel to the axis of the section of pipe 10. A tubular bearing 40 has one end threadedly engaged with the elbow 38 to also be disposed in substantially horizontal position paralleling the pipe 10.

A sleeve 42 is rotatably supported on the tubular bearing 40 and at its end remote from the elbow 38 is threadedly connected to a flared end 44 of a somewhat U-shaped pipe 46. Accordingly, the U-shaped pipe 46 is gravitationally biased of its own weight into vertical or plumb condtion as illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3. In order to provide a fluid seal at the bearing support, the tubular bearing 40, at the end remote from the elbow 38, is provided with a circumferentially extending exterior flange 48 to seat an 'O-ring 50 on the bearing against the face of the flange confronting the threaded end of the sleeve 42. When water flows to the sprinkler head, as indicated by the directional arrows in FIGURE 4, the water pressure causes axial movement of the sleeve 42' to axially compress the 'O-ring between the sleeve and the flange 48 to prevent the escape of water past the O-ring around the exterior of the bearing 40. However, when the water pressure is relieved the sleeve 42 releases the O-ring 50, as in FIGURE 3, so that the O-ring does not tend to inhibit gravitational biasing of the U-shaped pipe 46 into vertically erect position.

The other end of the U-shaped pipe 46 is also flared, as indicated at 54, to receive a rotary sprinkler 56 that is supported for bodily rotation around the vertical axis of the flared end 54. The sprinkler 56 can be any one of a number of commercially available types and, by way of example only, a Rainbird type of sprinkler is shown and will not be described in detail. The details of construction of such sprinklers are shown in a number of prior United States patents, as for example Patent No. 2,946,517 issued July 26, 1960'.

The sprinkler 56 is shown as being slightly modified, having a spindle 58 with a circumferentially extending exterior flange 60 secured to its lower end. A nut 62 is threadedly engaged with the vertically disposed flared end 54 of the U-shaped pipe 46, having a central bore 64 within which the spindle 58 of the sprinkler is supported for rotation on a vertical axis. The spindle flange 60 abuts the lower end of the nut 62 when water under pressure is present within the pipe 46 to prevent any appreciable leakage of water through the joint.

The sprinkler 56 has a nozzle arm 66 carrying a spray nozzle 68 at an angle to the vertical and the sprinkler is mounted in the U-shaped pipe 46 so that the inclined longitudinal axis 70 of the nozzle arm intersects the projected longitudinal and horizontally disposed axis 72 of the tubular bearing 40. The reactive thrust due to jets of water being sprayed through the nozzle 63 is along the nozzle axis 70 and since this axis intersects the axis 72 no couple is set up relative to the latter horizontally disposed axis. Therefore, as the sprinkler 56 rotates throughout 360 degrees, there will be no tendency for the U-shaped pipe 46 and the sprinkler to oscillate about the axis of the tubular bearing 40.

When the string of pipe and wheels 12 are rotated, the U-shaped pipe 46 moves in planetary fashion around the axis of the pipe 10, but at all times remains in vertically disposed position due to its support on the tubular bearing 40. Referring to FIGURE 3, it will be seen that the weight of the U-shaped pipe 46 and sprinkler 56 will tend to cause uneven wear on the tubular bearing 40 and such unevenness of wear in turn may tend to cause binding of the sleeve 42 on the bearing and so inhibit free rotation of the sleeve on the bearing. Such binding of the parts would tend to prevent gravitational biasing of the U-shaped pipe 46 into vertically disposed condition when the rotation of the wheels 12 and string of pipe 10 is halted. To prevent this, the U-shaped pipe 46 has a tapped boss 74 in a lower end portion thereof to receive an elongated rod 76 extending back towards the tubular bearing 40, the free end of the rod being weighted by means 78. This additional counterbalancing weight not only serves to insure uniform wear of the sleeve 42' on the bearing 40, but also aids in gravitationally biasing the U-shaped pipe 46 to vertically disposed position.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, it will be noted that the stub pipe 36 has sufiicient length to insure a clearance space between all parts of the sprinkler mechanism supported on the tubular bearing 40 and the exterior of the pipe 10 and clamping means 24. Thus, when the sprinkler 14 is moving in planetary fashion over the top of the string of pipe, the weight means 78 and U-shaped pipe 46 will clear the topmost portions of the pipe 10. When the sprinkler 14 is moving around the bottom of the pipe It the upper portions of the sprinkler 56 will clear the downwardly facing portions of the pipe 10.

Variations in the details of construction set forth above will undoubtedly occur to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that I do not mean to be limited to such details of construction but only by the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Sprinkler apparatus comprising, a rotary sprinkler, fluid conducting means to deliver fluid to said sprinkler and to support said sprinkler for rotation on a vertical axis, and second fluid conducting means to deliver fluid to and to support said first mentioned means for free rotation on a horizontal axis with the center of gravity of the combined first mentioned means and sprinkler being spaced from said axis to hold said sprinkler in erect position, said means supporting said sprinkler on substantially the same level as said horizontal axis.

2. Sprinkler apparatus comprising, a rotary sprinkler, fluid conducting means to deliver fluid to said sprinkler and to support said sprinkler for rotation on a vertical axis, and second fluid conducting means to deliver a fluid to said first means and including a bearing from which said first mentioned means freely gravitationally depends for rotation relative to said bearing on a substantially horizontal axis, said depending first mentioned means including a portion offset downwardly from said bearing to dispose said sprinkler at the level of said bearing, said sprinkler having an outlet with an axis substantially intersecting said horizontal axis in all rotary positions of the sprinkler.

3. Sprinkler apparatus comprising, a vertically disposed inlet pipe, a sprinkler support pipe having an end rotatably connected in fluid communicating relationship to an outlet end of said inlet pipe for free rotation relative to said inlet pipe on a substantially horizontal axis, a rotary sprinkler mounted on the other end of said support pipe to receive fluid from said support pipe, and for rotation on a vertical axis, and having a nozzle extending laterally upwardly from said vertical axis of rotation, said other end of said support pipe and an outlet of said sprinkler nozzle being positioned on opposite sides of said horizontal axis for positioning said sprinkler with said nozzle at substantially the level of said horizontal axis of rotation, to minimize reaction couples thereabout and means locating the effective center of mass of said support pipe and sprinkler below said horizontal axis to maintain said sprinkler in erect position.

4. Sprinkler apparatus comprising, a stub pipe, means for rigidly mounting an inner end of said stub pipe on an irrigation pipe to receive water from said irrigation pipe, a generally U-shaped pipe, fluid conducting tubular bearing means interconnecting an outer end of said stub pipe and one end of said U-shaped pipe for rotation of said U-shaped pipe about a horizontal axis, whereby said U-shaped pipe freely swings and depends from said outer end of said stub pipe, a rotary sprinkler having a spindle rotatably mounted in vertically erect position in the other end of said U-shaped pipe for rotation on a vertical axis, said sprinkler having a nozzle extending laterally upwardly from the upper end of said spindle and posiioned so that its reactive thrust axis angularly intersects the axis of said spindle, said sprinkler being positioned so that the intersection of said reactive thrust axis and spindle axis is also intersected by the projected axis of said bearing means, and a weight connected to said U- shaped pipe to gravitationally bias said U-shaped pipe and sprinkler to an erect position of said sprinkler.

5. Sprinkler apparatus comprising: a rotary sprinkler; a vertically disposed generally U-shaped pipe rotatably supporting said sprinkler in vertically upright position in one end of said pipe; a stub pipe for fluid communicating connection at an inner end to an irrigation pipe; and fluid conducting tubular bearing means intercommunicating an outer end of said stub pipe and the other end of said U- shaped pipe for free relative rotation of said stub pipe and U-shaped pipe on an axis whose projection intersects the outlet axis of said sprinkler in all rotary positions thereof, the center of gravity of said U-shaped pipe and sprinkler being below said axis of rotation.

6. Sprinkler apparatus as set forth in claim 5 in which said sprinkler includes a nozzle whose axis is angularly 6 related to and intersects the axis of rotation of said sprinkler, said nozzle axis intersecting the projected axis of relative rotation of said stub pipe and U-shaped pipe in all rotary positions of the sprinkler.

7. Sprinkler apparatus as set forth in claim 5 in which said U-shaped member at a lower end has a weight means positioned to counterbalance the weight of said U-shaped member and sprinkler relative to said bearing means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 494,847 Creed Apr. 4, 1893 1,338,242. Moise Apr. 27, 1920 2,946,517 Jacoby July 26, 1960 3,002,697 Jones Oct. 3, 1961 

